From Sports Media Watch, a one-stop page for sports ratings news.
The Brewers-Braves MLB Little League Classic averaged 2.02 million viewers on ESPN a week ago Sunday, marking the most-watched MLB telecast on the ESPN networks this season. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was also the only Sunday night game on ESPN this season, after the network gave up its “Sunday Night Baseball” package in the offseason.
Brewers-Braves finished behind the previous week’s Mariners-Astros “Sunday Night Baseball” game on NBC, which drew 2.4 million across a Nielsen-estimated linear audience (2.24M) and Adobe Analytics.
With ESPN getting the primetime window, NBC averaged 1.7 million for its Giants-Red Sox matinee (0.9 rating, 1.53M viewers per Nielsen, plus Adobe Analytics) — tied with Rangers-Red Sox earlier this season as the network’s least-watched window of the season.
The previous night, FOX averaged a 1.5 and 3.08 million for its usual regional window, delivering the top MLB audience of the week for a second-straight weekend.
Regional Major League Baseball action on FOX averaged a 1.6 rating and 3.08 million viewers last weekend, marking the network’s second-largest audience of the season, and the top MLB audience of the week.
NBC’s “Sunday Night Baseball” (Mariners-Astros) turned in 2.4 million across a Nielsen-measured linear audience (1.3, 2.24M) and streaming viewership tracked by Adobe Analytics — down from Yankees-Red Sox on ESPN last year (2.6M).
Earlier in the day, Cardinals-Cubs averaged a 1.0 and 1.99 million on ABC, marking the largest audience of the season on ESPN/ABC. ESPN the prior Wednesday drew a 0.7 and 1.35 million for Mariners-Yankees.
As previously noted, the “Field of Dreams” game from Dyersville, Iowa, averaged just 1.66 million viewers on Netflix. The household rating was a 0.7. The previous “Field of Dreams” game on FOX in 2022 had a 1.7 rating and 3.10 million viewers.
Last weekend’s Astros-Padres MLB “Sunday Night Baseball” game on NBC averaged a combined 2.1 million viewers across a Nielsen-measured linear audience (1.1 rating, 2.01M viewers) and streaming viewership tracked by Adobe Analytics — up from Cardinals-Cubs on ESPN last year (1.98M), but the least-watched Sunday night game since Rangers-Red Sox in June (1.7M).
Viewership trailed the previous night’s regional MLB window on FOX, which averaged a 1.2 and 2.22 million — marking the first time since Fourth of July weekend that FOX has delivered the top MLB audience of a week.
In other action for the week ending last Sunday, ESPN averaged a 0.6 and 1.15 million for Pirates-Brewers on August 5 and a 0.51 and 899,000 for Giants-Rangers two nights earlier.
Last weekend’s Yankees-Red Sox Major League Baseball game on ABC averaged a 1.0 rating and 1.99 million viewers, comfortably surpassing the network’s previous MLB window last month (Giants-Cubs: 1.41M).
ABC actually carried two baseball games last weekend, with a “BananaBall” matchup last Sunday drawing a 0.7 and 1.18 million — the largest audience yet for the “Bananaball” franchise.
Returning to traditional baseball, ESPN averaged 667,000 for Guardians-Rangers Monday night.
The latest edition of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry averaged 2.57 million viewers on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” over the weekend, marking the third-largest audience of the MLB season — behind only Yankees-Dodgers on ESPN June 1 (2.73M) and regional action featuring Red Sox-Yankees on FOX June 7 (3.0M).
The Yankees’ win, which peaked with 2.89 million viewers in the 8:15 PM ET quarter-hour, nearly doubled last year’s comparable Astros-Orioles game (1.31M).
Over on FOX, a Thursday night window featuring Yankees-Red Sox averaged a 1.3 rating and 2.33 million viewers — up from a 1.1 and 1.95 million last year.
Going back to the prior weekend, FOX averaged a 1.1 and 2.01 million (+17%) for its usual Saturday regional, while ESPN drew just shy of 1.7 million for the Mariners-Mets “Little League Classic” (-22%).
The latest edition of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball (Cubs-Cardinals) averaged 1.98 million viewers last weekend, peaking at 2.1 million in the 9:15 PM ET quarter-hour — more than double Mets-Mariners opposite the Olympics last year (937K).
ESPN is now averaging 1.69 million viewers for MLB games this season, including 1.73 million for Sunday Night Baseball — both up ten percent from the same point last year. The Sunday night average is the highest at this point of a season since 2017.
On FOX last weekend, regional action featuring the same Cubs-Cardinals matchup averaged a 0.9 rating and 1.8 million viewers — up sharply from last year opposite the Olympics (0.6, 1.07M).
The latest edition of ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (Tigers-Phillies) averaged 2.03 million viewers, peaking at 2.42 million — up 72% from last year’s Cardinals-Cubs game, which aired opposite the Olympics (1.18M). Sunday night games are now averaging 1.68 million, up 7% from last year and the highest average since 2017.
In other weekend action, the Braves-Reds MLB Speedway Classic — which began Saturday night but was largely played Saturday afternoon — averaged 1.6 million. The rain delay portion Saturday night averaged 1.8 million.
For more, see this article.
The latest edition of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball (Mets-Giants) averaged 1.66 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, peaking at 2.10 million — down 3% from last year, when the series featured Yankees-Red Sox but also aired opposite the Olympics (1.71M).
Sunday Night Baseball is still averaging 1.7 million viewers for the season, up 5% from last year and the highest since 2017.
On FOX the previous night, regional action featuring Dodgers-Red Sox averaged 2.02 million — down 2% from last year, which like the Sunday night window featured Yankees-Red Sox opposite the Olympics (2.07M).
ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball returned from All-Star hiatus with 1.61 million viewers for Tigers-Rangers on July 20, down only a hair from a larger-market pairing of the Red Sox and Dodgers last year (1.62M).
The previous night, regional MLB action featuring Red Sox-Cubs averaged a 0.9 rating and 1.7 million viewers on FOX — down 23% and 20% respectively from last year (1.1, 2.12M).
Monday’s MLB Home Run Derby averaged a 2.7 rating and 5.73 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, down a tick in ratings but up 5% in viewership from last year (2.8, 5.45M).
For more, see this article.
ESPN averaged 1.71 million viewers for Cardinals-Cubs and 844,000 for Rangers-Padres in a rare Sunday Night Baseball doubleheader last weekend. As one might expect, both games declined from a solo Red Sox-Yankees window on the same weekend last year (2.36M). ESPN had not aired a Sunday Night Baseball doubleheader since the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
On FOX, regional action last weekend averaged a 1.3 rating and 2.51 million viewers — the network’s second-largest audience of the season, but down a tick and 7% respectively from the same weekend last year (1.4, 2.7M).
The latest edition of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball — Twins-Tigers — averaged 2.02 million viewers, up two-thirds from Rangers-Orioles on the equivalent night last year. The Tigers’ win, which peaked with 2.30 million in the 9:15 PM ET quarter-hour, ranks third for the season among Sunday night games.
Sunday Night Baseball is now averaging 1.75 million viewers for the season (+11%), the highest at this point of a season since 2017.
Facing Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Mets-Phillies averaged 1.47 million viewers on the latest edition of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball — with 14% of that audience watching the “Statcast” alternate presentation on ESPN2. Viewership declined only 7% from Mets-Cubs last year, which did not face NBA competition (1.58M).
On FOX the previous night, regional action averaged a 1.0 rating and 2.00 million opposite breaking news coverage — not counting a brief preemption at 10 PM ET — down from a 1.2 and 2.21 million last year. Coverage trailed the competing Men’s College World Series Game 1 on ESPN.
On Tuesday night, Braves-Mets averaged a 0.31 and 527,000 on TBS and truTV — actually up from a Mets-Yankees game on TBS alone last year (0.28, 484K).
Giants-Dodgers averaged 1.91 million viewers on the latest edition of ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, down 8% from Yankees-Red Sox last year (2.07M).
The previous night, regional action on FOX featuring Yankees-Red Sox drew a 1.1 and 2.12 million — down 9 and 12 percent respectively from coverage featuring the same matchup a year ago.
Regional Major League Baseball action featuring Red Sox-Yankees averaged 3.0 million viewers on FOX Saturday night, marking the largest regular season MLB audience on any network since the same matchup on FOX in September 2022, in the middle of the Aaron Judge home run chase (3.1M).
The rivalry also averaged 1.92 million on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, actually down from Dodgers-Yankees in the same window last year (2.30M). Sunday Night Baseball nonetheless remains up 12% to its highest season-to-date average since 2017.
For more on the numbers, see this article.
Sunday’s Yankees-Dodgers Major League Baseball game averaged 2.73 million viewers on ESPN, surpassing a Mets-Yankees Subway Series game last month to rank as the most-watched edition of Sunday Night Baseball since 2018 and the largest audience of the MLB season.
The Yankees’ win, which peaked with 3.1 million in the 8:30 PM ET quarter-hour, increased 65% from Cardinals-Phillies in the same window last year (1.65M).
ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball is now averaging 1.72 million viewers for the season, a 16% increase from last year and the highest average at this point of the season since 2017.
On Saturday, regional action featuring the same matchup averaged 2.2 million on FOX — up slightly from last year (2.1M).
The May 25 edition of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball (Dodgers-Mets) averaged 1.67 million viewers on ESPN, more than double a rain-delayed Cubs-Cardinals game on the same night last year (847K). Sunday Night Baseball viewership was up 16% for the season through May.
The previous night, FOX averaged a 1.1 and 2.3 million for coverage featuring the same Dodgers-Mets matchup — the network’s most-watched game window this season and up from last year (1.0, 1.94M).
On TBS last Tuesday, Braves-Phillies drew a 0.17 and 278,000 (+22%).
Mets-Yankees averaged 2.54 million viewers in the latest edition of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, the most-watched MLB telecast of the season and the most-watched edition of the Sunday night franchise since 2018.
The Yankees’ win, which peaked with 3.02 million viewers in the 9:45 PM ET quarter-hour, soared 156% over last year’s poor-performing Padres-Braves game (992K), which faced competition from an NBA playoff Game 7.
FOX averaged 2.02 million for its regional Major League Baseball window last weekend, which the network says is the largest audience of the MLB season.
The following night, the latest edition of ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (Phillies-Guardians) averaged 1.3 million — down 13% from Braves-Mets a year ago (1.5M).
In other MLB action, TBS drew 294,000 for Red Sox-Tigers on Tuesday night — down from Yankees-Twins last year (308K).
Facing game sevens in the NBA and NHL playoffs, the latest edition of MLB Sunday Night Baseball (Dodgers-Braves) averaged 1.5 million viewers on ESPN — down from the same night last year, when coverage faced only an NHL Game 7 (1.7M).
The latest edition of ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (Phillies-Cubs) averaged 1.68 million viewers over the weekend, up 31% from Cubs-Red Sox last year (1.28M). The Phillies’ extra-inning win, which peaked with 2.08 million, ranks second among Sunday night games this season. Cubs-Dodgers had 1.95 million two weeks ago.
The latest edition of ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (Padres-Astros) averaged 1.17 million viewers last weekend, down 28% from Rangers-Braves last year (1.62M).
On TBS Tuesday, Phillies-Mets averaged 230,000 — up slightly from Astros-Cubs a year ago (226K). There was no truTV simulcast due to the NBA Playoffs.
The latest edition of ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (Cubs-Dodgers) averaged 1.95 million viewers on ESPN, marking the largest audience of the young MLB season, but down slightly from Padres-Dodgers a year ago (1.96M).
Going back to last week, TBS averaged 295,000 for Phillies-Braves last Tuesday night — up from Cubs-Padres last year, which aired in a later timeslot (229K). National coverage was blacked out in both home markets.
The latest edition of ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (Cardinals-Red Sox) averaged 1.17 million viewers, down 22% from a year ago.
Thursday’s Brewers-Yankees Major League Baseball Opening Day game averaged 1.93 million viewers on ESPN, marking the largest Opening Day audience — excluding the COVID-delayed 2020 season — since 2018.
Later in the night, Tigers-Dodgers averaged 1.74 million — up 10% from Cubs-Rangers last year (1.58M).
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